Former Governor of Jigawa State,
Sule Lamido on Monday, said that he was not desperate to become Nigeria’s
president in 2019.

Lamido said this in Abakaliki,
Ebonyi state, when he led his campaign team on a courtesy visit to Governor
David Umahi.

“I will administer a new direction
for Nigeria if nominated because I aspire to unite Nigerians and make the
country prosperous and secure.

“I believe that I am qualified to
win the party’s nomination because I am a party man by history and character
with the party giving me everything I am in life.

“The party discovered me from my
obscure village in Jigawa, made me its state chairman and after I lost initial
bids to become the state governor, made me Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister
during a period of its pariah status.

“The party further made me the
state governor and I want to presently pay it and the country back with
selfless service that would unite, reconcile and prosper the citizens.

“We are around nine aspirants
jostling for the position presently but the emphasis should be on the
nomination of the best man that would be seen as the country’s torch bearer.

“The party is looking upon its
governors for direction and as the convention to pick its candidate approaches,
it should concentrate on reclaiming the confidence reposed in it by Nigerians,”
NAN quoted him as saying.

The former governor further
lambasted former Peoples Democratic Party members who defected to the All
Progressive Congress, APC.

“The decampees who include former
governors, ministers, legislators among others, are those who were hitherto
unknown until the party gave them the platform to be known in the country.

“The loss of the 2015 elections
was bitter because members from the northern part of country were seen as
infidels with some flogged, their houses burnt including my office,”

Umahi, the chairman of the South
East Governors Forum, commended Lamido for his doggedness and noted that the
PDP was in the right direction with the way aspirants pursued their ambitions.

“Aspirants into various offices
in the last national convention toured the country to show they were serious
over their ambitions and it is pleasing that presidential aspirants are towing
the same line.

“This will ensure that those who
would eventually occupy the offices would realise that they actually competed
for it and wound not take the losers and party’s generality for granted”.